


Dreams

by autumnsolstice9



Series: Justice [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 20:38:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnsolstice9/pseuds/autumnsolstice9
Summary: Her cousin holds her face in his hands and forces her to look at him. “Hinata. What a wonderful, powerful name.”Or: vengeance is easy to confuse with justice





	Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think this can be read as a standalone. I would recommend reading the rest of the series (bc i enjoyed writing it and hope you enjoy reading it) but you really only need "Remembrance" and "Beyond" to understand this

She runs into Sasuke.

She had been fighting a missing-nin from the Mist, her body tired, when she picks up on the last Uchiha’s chakra, along with others she doesn’t recognize, moving towards her.

She is still fighting when he shows up with his posse, and she feels prickly and uncomfortable as he watches her build chakra into two lightning lion headed fists, which she uses to hit the heart of the missing-nin, who collapses and does not move shortly after.

She is a Hyuuga, and she can see everything. She knows he is behind her, still watching, and she waits for him to make his move. Part of her wonders if he has wondered about her being a missing-nin, or if he thought their meeting in the cave was nothing to worry about and she is such a little threat that he could approach without fearing his life. Hinata knows she can’t beat Sasuke in a fight.

Somewhere deep inside, she knows that she might have a chance. He stumbled last time he ran in to her and she won. She can do it again.

“Hyuuga,” he calls out, eventually, “What are you doing here? Playing rebel? As if you would abandon Konoha.”

She doesn’t answer. Instead, she turns around, and lets him take in her new look. Her hair is an inch or so longer than the last time they met and a scar runs from her forehead down to her right eye, her pale opal just barely saved. Dirt is most definitely smudged all over her face. She no longer resembles the dainty Hyuuga she was raised to be.

Instead, she resembles Hinata. She looks like the girl who runs missions, the fighter, the one who will avenge those who harm her village or her family. Her hitai-ate with the leaf scratched out is on display around her neck, and she hopes the scar on her face reminds Sasuke of the nightmare she brought to life in that damp cave, of kekkei genkai’s and lost eyes.

She isn’t surprised when Sasuke doesn’t waver except for a twitch of his hand along the hilt of his sword. He has always been a good ninja- impulsive, yes, but he has never been one to betray his stone facade.

“So, you’re a missing-nin now,” his lips curl into what may be a smile, but Hinata has never cared enough about Sasuke to find out, “Finally came to your senses about Konoha?” She takes in the crew assembled around him, three shinobi who all look strong, and knows she doesn’t want to stay and chat with the Uchiha traitor.

“I don’t want to fight,” she whispers, trying to remind him of the timid girl she was in Konoha, “I let you live. I never bothered you in Konoha. Please let me leave.”

He eyes are slightly manic when he looks at her. “You let me live? You may have fooled me once, but you will not fool me again. You are Hyuuga, and I am Uchiha. You do not stand a chance.”

Chidori comes to life in his hand, and she twists her face into something resembling fear. “You don’t want to do this, Sasuke.”

He doesn’t respond and rushes towards her. His team tries to join in, but he shouts at them to stay put, that it is his fight. His chidori reaches towards her, flickering closer and closer, just about to graze her skin-

And then she disappears in a flicker, coming back to land right above him, watching as his eyes become sharingan strong while her hands shoot out to hit his neck. He has not fought her in any of their shared history, not since Iruka-sensei would make people spar in the academy. She knows she has the upper hand. Everyone has heard about what moves the Uchiha clan possesses, and even more have heard about Sasuke’s abilities.

Many have heard about how the Hyuuga fight, but none have heard of Hinata. Only her team, and Kakashi who took a week to train her, knows the way she brawls. Sasuke twists out of reach at the last second, but Hinata lets her hand drive into the ground, the force tearing up the earth in a feat of strength that would make Sakura proud. Her leg swings out, and the chakra at her feet glances his leg, but if being raised in the Hyuuga clan has taught her anything, it is how to make the most out of the tiniest touch.

She does not take time to celebrate her small victory. Hinata has known since she was young that celebrating was never an option for her- she has had to work hard for all she has had, has had to take every opportunity her victories afforded her, has known that she does not have the luxury to relax. When Sasuke stumbles, she juts her arm out, lightning flowing out of her veins and towards the Uchiha.

He falls.

She whips a kunai out, holding it to his neck. This victory is due to luck, and she knows that he has had the time to reassess her as an opponent. He will not make the same mistake as last time.

“Let me leave,” she demands, filling her voice with the dignity of someone born to lead. The three team members Sasuke has tagging along with him are tense around her, stiff as they watch her hold their leader hostage.

“Why should we? You Konoha nin are weak, and from what I’ve heard of the Hyuuga, you are even weaker,” the red-haired one sneers, all false confidence.

The kunai in her hand cuts slightly into Sasuke’s neck and her free hand breathe fire into life, setting it to his side lightly enough to begin burning him. “I am Hinata before I am Hyuuga,” she announces, “and I am not weak.” She flares lightning into the ground, letting it inch towards the three nin.

They don’t move from where they stand, and Hinata hopes her boasts can pay for her life. If all three of them attacked, she would lose and she knows it.

“You’re not what I expected,” Sasuke mutters from where she holds him.

She doesn’t deign to respond. Her entire life she has been underestimated, this is no different. She has learned to ignore it, how to turn it to her advantage by letting her enemies see her as weak when she has become iron strong.

“Why did you leave Konoha?” Sasuke continues.

Hinata glances down at him, takes in the bruises along his body and the weariness that seems to be draped on his shoulders. “I told you before, Hyuuga and Uchiha are not as different as they seem. I remember your brother during clan meetings. I remember how he craved justice, even if it came at a price. He betrayed his dream, but I will not betray mine.”

Sasuke seems to grow limp underneath her. “Itachi didn’t betray his dream. Never.” His eyes flicker up to his team, pausing on each of them individually. “Let her go,” he announces, “She won’t hurt me as long as she can leave. I’m willing to let it happen.”

The red haired nin with the glasses gives Hinata a hard, long look, before looking at Sasuke and nodding her head. Hinata has never been one to ignore an almost sacred opportunity, and she quickly lets go of the Uchiha and begins to run into the forest.

She is at the edge of the tree line when he calls out to her. “Hinata, protect your eyes. Hyuuga eyes are valuable.”

Her uncle died to protect her and her eyes, her clan places seals on their own to “protect” their eyes. She knows the value of the byakugan. She gives Sasuke a small nod, and then she disappears into the forest until the Uchiha and his group are no longer visible with her byakugan.

***

She meets more missing-nin, all who claim they want to destroy Konoha. They see her, a Hyuuga, a traitor to her village, and they ask her to join them.

“We can help you achieve your dreams,” they tell her. “We have heard of the yellow-haired warrior, the sun of Konoha, the nine-tailed fox. We have heard of Naruto and we wish to see him suffer.”

After that, striking them down is easy. Hinata does not mind the blood that stays lodged under her fingernails. She has been trained to be a killer, and besides, she has always been willing to kill for those she loves.

She runs into a nin who boasts of their victories against Konoha. Her hair is blond like Naruto’s, so familiar it aches in her chest, her eyes hazel like Shino’s in the sun. “I have heard of you, Hinata Hyuuga,” the woman boasts, her voice slithering over Hinata’s skin like a serpent, “I remember hearing your name from the girl with the diamond tattoo.”

Ice plunges into her stomach. “What have you done to Sakura?”

The nin licks her lips, her eyes glinting menacingly. “Is she your little love? She sure seemed to mention you in her last moments after I cut her open.”

Time feels like it no longer exists to Hinata. Part of her knows that this is likely a trap. If the nin has heard of Hinata, she has likely heard of Hinata’s close relationship with the pink-haired medic. “What have you done?” she asks, her voice sounding far away to her own ears.

The nin just laughs.

When chakra uncontrollably launches itself outside of her in a ring, the force like a bullet, she wonders if this is how Naruto feels when he loses control of the Kyuubi. She knows this is different, that she is in control of her body more than Naruto is when he slips, but she can feel her self-control slowly fall away as she moves in a flurry to knock the nin down.

When the woman is finally on the ground, Hinata grabs her throat. “Sakura,” she growls out, “Is she alive? Did you hurt her?” 

The nin maniacally cackles, her eyes far away. “I would never be able to lay a finger on the girl, not with the Hokage around. But soon, soon she will suffer. War is coming and once Sakura leaves the walls of Konoha she will die.”

Hinata hits her tenketsu points until the nin can no longer move, the nin’s insides melted into nothing. The golden hair is fanned out beneath her, and it is so sickenly like Naruto’s that Hinata can’t stand to see it on this awful woman, so she lights it on fire.

She does not stay to put out her flames, letting the body burn the way Hinata feels on the inside. That night, she dreams of returning to Konoha, of seeing Kiba and Shino and Kurenai. She dreams of entering the Hyuuga compound and finally fighting her father, of setting the Hyuuga free. She dreams of Sakura pulling her back from the afterlife, of vengeance for insinuating harm to those she cares for. She dreams of Naruto, of love and jumping into death’s cold arms if it meant protecting him.

Rage is swimming deep in her stomach, and she knows vengeance is not the same as justice.

She wakes to tears in her eyes and the thought that justice is a harder route to take than any she has walked before.

***

She meets Neji on the road when he is on a mission.

“Will you kill him?” he asks her. “Will you kill your father?”

She remembers the bitter taste in her mouth the day after she killed the missing-nin with golden hair, how letting her anger control her left her feeling nothing but hollow. She remembers seeing Neji filled with nothing but bitterness and vengeance in his gaze as he stared at her during the chuunin exams, how she thought that the Hyuuga had turned him into another byakugan monster, how he was the perfect Hyuuga.

Hinata wants to laugh and cry simultaneously when she realizes that she has the same rage in her. It is hidden beneath layers of self-deprecation and the need to prove herself as strong, but it is there.

“I don’t know,” she tells him, honestly, feeling herself slip away and into the thoughts that have plagued her for days. “I want justice, I want to create a new future, but I fear I am as angry and lost as all the other Hyuuga in our clan.”

She looks into his eyes, the same as her own, her lip trembling as he brings her into a hug. “Oh, Hinata-sama,” he whispers, “The clan has brought ruin to the both of us.” He pulls away and Hinata watches as his gaze softens, his hands resting on her shoulders.

She has never before felt closer to her cousin.

“Someone said they had hurt Sakura, and I did not think, just attacked, and I told myself it was justice, but I was wrong. It was vengeance. What makes me better than those who do us harm if I act out of anger instead of duty?”

“You acted out of love, Hinata-sama. You have never done anything but love. You loved me at my worst, you love our clan, you love your team, you love Sakura, you love Naruto. It is easy to turn love into hate, especially towards our enemies.”

She thinks of her father, and how he holds her people hostage, of her eyes and how she would rather die than see them go to the enemy. “Hyuuga love their eyes, and we have turned it into hate towards our own clan. What a wonderful, cursed name. We love our power so much we hate those who possess it.” Hinata glances towards a point over Neji’s shoulder, scared to see his reaction. “We have always been this way. I am Hyuuga. Who is to say I will be any different?”

Neji runs a calloused finger down the scar on her forehead, the visible testament to how close they all are to losing their precious byakugan when enemies are around every corner. “You are more than Hyuuga, you are Hinata. Vengeance can so easily be disguised as justice, but you have eyes that see better than us all. I have faith you will be able to see the truth and your path.”

She can feel a tear run down her face. “Hyuuga. What a terrible, terrible name.”

Her cousin holds her face in his hands and forces her to look at him. “Hinata. What a wonderful, powerful name.”

“I love you nii-san.”

“I love you, imouto.”

***

Her father told her she couldn’t put her life on the line as Hyuuga.

Hinata has faced certain death more times than she can count. She is a shinobi, she has taken kunai hits and punches. She almost died fighting Neji, and she did die fighting Pein.

She has done it as Hinata. She has never been a fighter because she was Hyuuga. She fought to become stronger, to please her father’s impossible expectations. She fought to protect those she loves. She has never fought to prove the power of Hyuuga. Every time she has attacked an enemy, it has been to prove the power of Hinata.

Her mind echos with what she has heard- that there is a war coming.

She doesn’t hesitate when she heads out to meet Konoha on the battlefield.

She is Hyuuga, the former heiress, the failure. She is Hinata, and she has grown wild in the woods of the land of Fire. She is Hinata, and she is willing to die for her village, for those she loves.

War is brewing, and Hinata will meet it.

**Author's Note:**

> i know neji doesnt ever call hinata nee-chan, but i wanted to show a moment where they can truly be the kids they are and have a lil sweet moment together!!
> 
> hinata hasnt returned to konoha yet, but i can promise that it will be soon! im just enjoying writing these lol
> 
> also i want to show how i think hinata would struggle with the idea and weight of what she plans to do. also she def beat sasuke so easily bc i want to show her growth as a ninja but also i dont like sasuke pls dont hate me lol


End file.
